


Remembrance Day

by tini_dancer



Series: tini_dancer’s JATP One-Shot Collection [3]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cemetery, Día de los Muertos | Day of the Dead, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Halloween, It's a fake thing, Mentions of homophobia, Not the English holiday, Remembrance Day, a better look a Willie's past, bc covid doesn't exist in the show, but no covid, so it will not exist here, takes place in 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:26:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27004285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tini_dancer/pseuds/tini_dancer
Summary: Halloween for ghosts isn't about dressing up, spreading scares, and eating candy. For ghosts, Halloween is a day of remembrance. Of what once was, what things are now, and how they are remembered after their passing. They feel more connected to their families and accept any gifts left for them at their graves.Luke, Reggie, and Alex experience the ghost Remembrance Day for the first time on Halloween in 2020.aka, the boys visit their graves for the first time.
Relationships: Alex/Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Series: tini_dancer’s JATP One-Shot Collection [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956655
Comments: 9
Kudos: 287





	Remembrance Day

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warnings:  
> -mentions of fighting parents  
> -mentions of homophobia  
> -strong mentions of death in a physical and psychological sense
> 
> Other Notes:  
> -each one shot ties in with my others (as in, the stories told in them happen in the same timeline) but this (and the others) can be read as stand-alone  
> -Happy Halloween (in a few weeks!)!!! Make sure to stay safe, celebrate appropriately, and eat lots of candy!

Octobers in LA were always the greatest. Unlike most other places in the United States, it wasn’t super cold, so you would see people on the beach in bikinis even if they were now deep into fall. There were Halloween parties on the piers and beaches almost every year. That’s something the Sunset Curve boys loved most. Because, with all the parties, they could easily find a gig and perform in matching costumes. People loved it.

Too bad they were dead now and couldn’t even feel the temperature.

“You think we can still wear costumes?” Reggie asked late one night, after Julie had gone to bed. Him, Luke, and Alex were chilling on the couch, watching the clock tick by. That was another thing about being ghosts: They didn’t have to sleep, and pretty much couldn’t. Nights were long a lot of the time, especially when none of them had plans.

Luke turned to him, “What, for Halloween?”

“No, for Thanksgiving,” Alex rolled his eyes a little, then answered Reggie, “I wouldn’t think so. I know we haven’t tried it, but I don’t think we can wear any clothes other than the ones we already owned from before we died. That’s how it is with normal ghosts.”

Reggie lifted his pointer finger in realization, “But, we are not normal ghosts, remember?”

“To other people we are. I mean… people still can’t see us. The only thing that changed after we played the Orpheum was that we can touch Julie. Everything else is still the same.”

Luke then said, “But we can try. Remember all of the fun costumes we wore to Halloween gigs? How fun would it be to do that again?”

“Dude, we don’t even have a Halloween gig booked. And considering it is in only a week, I don’t think we’re gonna have one.” Luke and Reggie looked at Alex annoyingly after he said this. Even in death, Alex couldn’t keep his late night bluntness bottled in.

“Oh!” Reggie sprung up a little, “What if we go as sheet ghosts? We already know that people can see the sheet —Alex don’t you say anything — and it would totally fit! I mean, we are Julie and the ‘Phantoms.’ Besides, Julie showed me a few videos of people doing it with sunglasses on… what was that site?”

“The one that was only videos that took up her whole screen?” Luke inquired.

“Yeah, that one!”

“TikTok… I think.”

Alex shrugged, then said, “Willie’s told me a little about that. He also said that it’s not uncommon for ghosts to just wear a sheet and walk around, but because of the communication barrier and the fact that it looks like they are legit floating, it isn’t the best idea in the world. But… it is a really cute TikTok trend.”

Luke pursed his lips and sighed, “You have a point…”

“Wouldn’t want to scare the children.” Reggie then said.

They spent the rest of the night talking about what they would have dressed up as if they could. Reggie, with his stupid sense of humor, said he would have worn a hot dog suit, then draw a _X_ over each eye to indicate death. The other two boys reached over to hit him, but they did laugh. Alex, very anxiously, admitted that he wanted to dress up in drag. He loved the movie _Tootsie_ (he had rented it from BlockBuster and watched it in the studio, since his family would have definitely not approved) and he wanted to be the main character, in the red sequined dress and high heels. He even wanted to ask Julie to paint his nails and do his makeup. Luke wanted to be a vampire, but a spoof of the modern teen romance ones. He talked about coating his whole body and glitter and wearing a button up shirt barely buttoned. They all collectively hated _Twilight_ when Julie showed them it, so they all laughed, especially when Luke started impersonating Edward.

Halloween would have been great. Too bad they were dead.

~~~~

Alex hated his anxiety.

He was well aware of it, therefore pretty in control of it, but it stopped him from doing a lot of things that he wanted to do. When he was alive and a little younger, it kept him from being himself. But once he came out, it was better. He wore what he wanted, he listened to classic rock and 80s pop without a care in the world, and he became more involved with the bad he already loved. Facing his anxiety usually had a good outcome, but the actual feeling itself sucked.

That is why he hadn’t told Willie how he felt.

It had been over a month since he had gotten run over by the really cute skater boy, and since then they had become a lot closer. Even though Willie could never hang out for too long, unless Caleb would do something, but when they did, it was always special. That day, only four days away from Halloween, Willie had taken him to a remote cliff area by the beach. They sat on the rocks and talked as the sun went down.

“I am not looking forward to Saturday,” Willie admitted, taking a pebble and throwing it into the Pacific Ocean.

Alex looked at him confused, “Why? It’s Halloween. I’m assuming at , um, your controlling… um… situation, Halloween has to be a little fun there. I can’t imagine Caleb not going all out.”

“No, no, it’s his biggest party yet, but Halloween is different for ghosts.”

“Since they can’t participate?”

Willie shook his head, “Halloween is kind of this… special holiday for ghosts.”

He looked to Alex, who gave him a look that asked him to continue.

“You see, in Spanish countries, Dia De Los Muertos takes place during Halloween. That’s the Day of the Dead. Families honor their lost loved ones and make massive, beautiful shrines at their graves. And the ghosts of these loved ones would always be there to ‘receive’ these gifts from their family. As the years went on, that idea spread across the world, and ghosts have dubbed October 31st Remembrance Day. Not to be confused with UK holiday.”

Alex nodded a little, “So… what exactly does that mean?”

“On Halloween night, if they are up for it, ghosts go and see their grave.”

“...oh.”

“Yeah,” Willie said, speaking a little softer, “You know, I died 34 years go. It took me 12 years to actually go. I had a friend who was also from New York, and we promised to be there for each other for our first Remembrance Day. And it really, really sucked. I just remember standing there, staring at my tombstone, standing over my body that was six feet underneath me.”

Alex’s mind began to buzz. With the band, Willie, and the Caleb situation, he hadn’t had the time to think about the fact that his body wasn’t actually his body. It was his soul. His real body was in a casket six feet under ground somewhere, and it had been for 25 years. Surely his body had already begun to decay. He felt like vomiting thinking about that last part. Without thinking, he gripped onto Wille’s shoulder and tried to stabilize himself. 

As his brain became more clouded, and his hands began to tremble, Willie pushed Alex’s head to where his forehead was on his shoulder, then took both of Alex’s hands. He guided the boy through breathing exercises as he rubbed small, light circles into his knuckles, trying to make a rhythm. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Alex felt stable enough to lift his head back up.

He gave Willie a small smile, “Thank you,” he said quietly.

“Of course. Anything to keep you safe and happy.”

Alex chuckled, “Well this whole Remembrance Day thing doesn’t seem all that happy, if you ask me.”

“It isn’t. It’s why I’m dreading it,” Willie let go of one hand, but laced his fingers through Alex’s with the other, “But there is some good. I like seeing what is left. Like, at mine, there hasn’t been a year where there hasn’t been fresh flowers. I’ve found notes a few times. Some were from my parents, some from my brother. He left one a couple years ago that made me really happy.”

No way was Alex going to pry into Willie’s life after such a short time knowing him. Instead, he said, “So you’ll be in New York on Saturday?”

“Before the show, yeah. I have to be back by eight, of course.”

“Yeah…” Alex bit his lip and looked down at his lap. He wished there was something he could do to help this boy he had become absolutely smitten by.

“Hey, don’t worry too much about it,” he shoved Alex’s shoulder with his own, their hands still interwoven, “Caleb always gives the day after Halloween off to us. We could spend the whole day together.”

Alex looked up at him, “Really? Are you sure he’s just going to let you? Especially after-“

“Stop worrying, Hot Dog. I’ll be fine. Besides, Caleb’s been gone a lot lately. I don’t know where, and I really don’t want to know why. But, in all seriousness, I am totally free on Sunday. And I really want to spend it with you.”

Alex blushed as he smiled at him. He then moved his free hand to tuck a piece of Wille’s long, soft hair behind his ear, so he could see his small piercing. That was another thing Alex was too anxious to do. He wanted to get a small cuff on his cartilage when he was alive, but the process scared him and he was underage to do it without parental permission. But he loved Wille’s little silver hoop that hung from his lobe. If they were closer, Alex would have been tempted to play with it.

Instead, he just put his hand back down in his lap and replied, “I can’t wait.”

~~~~

“Remembrance Day?” Luke asked, “That sounds morbid, bro.”

“I know it does,” Alex tried to justify, “But think about it. It has been over 25 years since we died. 25 years of our families visiting our graves, leaving things, putting out flowers, and we haven’t gotten the chance to see any of that.”

Reggie said, “I would think my parents and brothers still visit me. Probably leave me stuff.”

“What kind of stuff are you guys on?” Luke scoffed, “In case you guys have forgotten, both of your parents sucked. Reggie, I can’t think of how many nights you spent at the studio because your parents wouldn’t stop fighting. You would take a bus from Malibu to Los Feliz just to get away for a night or two. Do you really think they’re still together? You really think they would see each other again for any reason?”

“Well I would hope I would be a good reason,” Reggie stood up from the piano bench and took a few steps towards Luke, who was tuning his guitar on the couch, “Yeah, they sucked. They hated each other. And I never wanted to be around it. But they always seemed to pull it together when it came to me. Every one of my middle school choir concerts, my sophomore academic awards ceremony, even some Sunset Curve gigs… they always pulled it together. They loved me, even if they didn’t love each other.”

“Besides, who said they had to visit together?” Alex shrugged, then Luke turned to him.

“You think you have any room to say anything? Your parents were never supportive of anything you did after you came out to them. And you knew they wouldn’t be supportive, and you still came out to them. After sneaking me into your room almost every week, after telling them we were ‘studying,’ you still told them, even though you knew how they would react. There’s no way they still visit, if they ever did. I love you, Alex. I really do. But I guarantee your grave has nothing on it other than your epitaph.”

There was a thick pause, then Alex said, “Did you really bring our past relationship into this? I thought that breakup was mutual.”

“It was,” Luke closed his eyes and inhaled, “I didn’t mean to speak sourly about that. I’m just trying to get my point across.”

Alex hunched a little in his seat and said, “Maybe they’ve changed. And maybe my sister leaves stuff. She didn’t know I was gay, but I would hope she still thinks of me after all this time.”

“Luke,” Reggie sat next to him, “if you’re worried about what yours is going to look like, you shouldn’t. You saw how your parents reacted to _Unsaid Emily_. They still love you so much after all this time. I bet your grave is the nicest and most beautiful out of the three of ours.”

“Yeah, you know these things, Luke,” Alex reached over and put a hand on his knee, “Look, our family lives were ours. We’ll deal with the possible disappointment. And, if we end up disappointed, we’ll get over it. Because we still have you. And we still have Julie. We have all the family we need.”

Luke exhaled loudly, then nodded, “Yeah, you’re right. Who cares if it isn’t what we want or expect. We have us. And if that’s the case, then it wouldn’t hurt to check it out.”

The boys grouped together on the couch and shared a hug, with the reassurance that all they will ever need is each other.

~~~~

“I can’t believe I’m babysitting Carlos and his best friend while they trick or treat,” Julie complained as she entered the studio, dressed as Moana, “I mean, I love my brother, but I don’t think I can handle two 10 year olds at once.”

Luke laughed a little and looked at her costume, “You look really pretty in that.”

“Thanks, it’s a great movie,” Julie replied with a slight blush on her cheeks, “I’ll make sure to show it to you later,” she looked around and saw that Reggie and Alex were gone, “They didn’t leave without you, right?”

“No, no, Reggie wanted to see Carlos’ and Ray’s costumes before we left and Alex went with him to make sure he didn’t do anything to possibly expose us.”

“Make sense.”

Luke leaned his back against the piano and looked down at his shoes. Julie walked up to him and took his hand.

“Hey, don’t stress about this. Mitch and Emily love you so much. I would be terribly shocked if you find nothing there.”

“I’m not too worried about that,” Luke brushed it off, “It’s Alex and Reggie. Me and my parents didn’t agree all of the time, but they were good people. The Peters' and the Mercer's were not when I knew them. I just don’t want them to get too hurt.”

Julie squeezed his hand in reassurance, “They will be fine. They are really strong. And they have you. Let them do this.”

Luke nodded, and it was then when Reggie and Alex poofed back into the studio.

“Julie, your brother is the coolest Jedi I have ever seen,” Reggie said, “his lightsaber is epic.”

“Yeah, he loves Luke Skywalker,” she replied as she let go of Luke’s hand. Then she gazed at all three of them, “You guys stick together tonight, alright? You know where you’re going?”

“Yep,” Luke replied, “It’s a good thing we’re all buried in the same cemetery. I can’t believe you can find that kind of stuff on the internet.”

Alex chimed in, “Yeah that’s kinda morbid. And personal.”

Julie opened her arms, and the four of them shared a much needed hug. When they parted, they could hear Carlos calling out for her. With that, Julie blew kisses to her boys and left the studio.

“Ready for this?” Alex asked, while taking his cap out of his bag and putting it on.

“Yep.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay then.”

The three boys shared one last look before poofing out.

~~~~

“Wow,” Reggie gaped, “This is the most crowded cemetery I have ever seen.”

Alex smacked him to tell him to keep his voice down, but he wasn’t wrong. Ghosts loomed around the headstones at every angle. Some ghosts were older, carrying around canes that they didn’t need to use anymore. Some were their age, and some were even younger. Luke’s breath hitched at the sight of a little girl phasing through a stone, a dirty teddy bear in her arms.

The boys walked through the cemetery together, back to the more modern sections. The cemetery had been established in the 1800s, and yes, there were some ghosts that looked like they had died during that century walking around. They had made their way to the 90s, and with one last squeeze of each other’s hands, they split off to find their spots.

Luke scanned the rows and weaved his way through some ghosts that were standing over their own graves. Since his eyes were lowered, he didn’t see one that was in front of him and ran right into a ghost, knocking her down.

“Oh my God, I am so sorry,” he whispered, helping her up. The woman looked to be in her thirties, and she wore high waisted mom jeans and a floral blouse.

“Don’t be sorry, hon,” the woman smiled a little, “I was a little distracted. But who isn’t tonight?”

Luke nodded, then asked, “Not to be rude or invasive, but when did you die?”

“1993, got into a bike accident,” the woman held her hand out, “I’m Jen.”

“Luke.” They shook hands.

“Now, if you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?” Jen asked sweetly.

“Oh,” Luke was a little taken aback, “I was seventeen. I died in ‘95.”

Jen’s face fell, “Oh, I am so sorry. But, I don’t think I’ve seen you around here. It has been 25 years.”

Luke bit his lip, “Yeah, my situation is… complicated. Me and my friends, we all died the same night from the same thing, we were in this weird limbo for a lot of that time. Up until just a few months ago, actually. So this is our first Remembrance Day.”

“Well, then let me help you,” she smiled, “What is your last name, Luke?”

“Patterson. I was born on September 12th, 1977. Died April 19th, 1995.”

Together, him and Jen looked for his grave. After a couple minutes, a bouquet of blue tulips caught his eye. He loved tulips, but they weren’t currently in season. But these were fresh. He walked over to the grave they stood at, and he froze. It was, in fact, his.

_Luke Evan Patterson_

_September 12, 1977 - April 19, 1995_

_Beloved son, friend, and musician_

A tear fell down his face as he bent down to smell the tulips. They were indeed fresh and were very real. They couldn’t have been put in but a couple weeks ago, at the most. Next to the bouquet, sitting up against the headstone, was the Sunset Curve demo. He took it in his hands and stood back up. He did remember leaving a copy with them before he ran away, but he didn’t expect them to still have it. He cracked it open and took out the lining, and four young faces looked back at him.

“Your album?” Jen asked from behind. Without turning, Luke nodded and let the tears roll freely down his cheeks.

“It was our demo,” he said quietly, “only a few songs are on here. Looks like they kept the CD,” he noted, noticing the case itself was empty, “we were going to be big. God, I can’t believe they kept this…”

Jen looked over his shoulder to see the picture of four boys standing in a line. She recognized Luke, and there were three other teens around him. She gazed up, but her eyes caught on the sight of jet black hair and a leather jacket, just like one of the boys in the picture. He was a few rows farther in, staring down at what was probably his grave. And a couple rows deeper was a tall blond boy with a black cap and a white jacket that match the one one of the boys was wearing in the picture. Jen then realized it was his bandmates that died with him. God, they were all so young. She backed away and took one last glance at Luke before going back to her own spot, wanting to leave him with his thoughts.

Luke took one of the flowers into his hand. He sat on the ground and played with the flower in his hand as he processed everything he was seeing. His parents had visited, and they had visited recently. They found his favorite flower to leave with him. They still wanted him to be comfortable and happy, even in death.

“ _The words ‘I love you’ in replace…_ ” Luke sang softly to himself, another tear falling down his face, “ _Maybe time will not erase me._ ”

~~~~

Reggie held the red and black guitar pick close to his heart as he read his epitaph over and over, as if it would never make sense to him.

_In Loving Memory of_

_Reginald Donald Peters_

_August 9, 1977 - April 19, 1995_

_May he love and rock as he did with us_

The inscription itself was enough to make him start balling, but when he saw the guitar pick, his first ever guitar pick, laying against the stone, he knew he was right. Even if his parents hadn’t worked together on leaving his memory behind, one of them did. Because he had left this pick in a box under his bed for safekeeping once he switched from normal guitar to bass. Now he knew that at least one of them remembered it, remembered _him_ , and left it there to be with him. There weren’t any flowers, which was okay with Reggie, he was never the biggest fan of them. But the pick meant more than any number of flowers could. 

He glanced down between his feet and said quietly, “I hope it’s comfortable down there. It would suck to stay in one position for the rest of eternity.”

He chuckled to himself. He knew his body would have appreciated the joke. Still, he let a few more tears flow and he leaned his head against his tombstone. He pressed a kiss to the pick and pressed it against his chest.

~~~~

_Alexander Andrew Mercer_

_March 25, 1978 - April 19, 1995_

_Loving son, brother, friend, and rocker_

_God loves who he is, and so does the world_

That was just the beginning of what surprised Alex when he found his grave.

The next thing was a Sunset Curve CD that Alex had given his parents, or, more or less, shoved in his dad’s hands and asked for him and his mom to at least give it a try. The CD itself was missing, but in the sleeve was the band’s picture, with a heart drawn with pink ink on Alex’s body. Not only did they emphasize that he was a rock musician, something he had known his parents to always resent, but if someone were to open the case, they would know exactly who was at their feet. They were claiming him.

He figured his sister could have done it, but she couldn’t have done the epitaph. That was on his parents. And they put “rocker” on it. They praised that part of him. Not only that, they praised something that hit even closer to the heart.

The flowers were fake. They had to be. Alex felt one of them, identifying it as a fabric, but he couldn’t stop staring at them. Because in the vase was a bouquet of rainbow-painted flowers and a small pride flag.

He spent a good few minutes on his knees bent over sobbing, holding the pride flag close to his chest. 

It couldn’t have been real. His parents hated him for being gay. They never kicked him out, thankfully, but they would rarely talk to him. And if they did, it was to yell or pray at him. That last part hurt because he always figured God would love him. He made him that way, so He should love him. What his parents did seemed hypocritical. But, somehow, Alex had guessed right earlier. They had changed their ways, it seemed. And, while he cried over his grave, Alex felt warmth in his heart.

~~~~

Luke held a blue tulip in his hand as he made his way back to the entrance of the cemetery, where the guys promised to meet up. He sniffed it again, something he couldn’t keep himself from doing. It was so alive, and having it with him made him feel the same way.

He noticed that Reggie was already there, hands in his jacket pockets and smiling at Luke. When the latter joined, he asked, “How did it go?”

He held up the flower, “They’ve been here recently. And they somehow found my favorite flower in October.”

Reggie leaned over to smell it, and nodded, “Yeah, that’s fresh alright.”

“What about you?”

Luke’s eyes were met with a small guitar pick, hand painted with red and black stars.

“My first guitar pick,” Reggie beamed, “Only my parents could have had access to this.”

“Sometimes I forget you know how to play a normal guitar,” he grinned as Reggie pocketed the pick.

A few minutes later, they noticed Alex walk up to them. His eyes were blood-shot from crying, his head was hung low, and one hand was in his pocket. Luke gazed down at the other hand and his eyes went wide. So did Reggie’s.

“Alex…” Luke looked up when the blond reached them. He was smiling, and so was Reggie. Alex finally brought his eyes up and he let out a laugh as he held up the pride flag.

“I know what you’re going to say,” he said before Luke could say anything, “But they put on my headstone that they love me for me. They changed, somehow. I guess me dying was the way to end homophobia.”

The three shared a laugh, then embraced each other tightly. They touched their heads together and shared some deep breaths. If there was one thing for sure, it was that they were definitely going to do this again next year.


End file.
